Thieves on Friday night broke into the St Simon’s Anglican Church located at De Kinderen, West Coast Demerara and made off with a number of items but not before they desecrated the place of worship, leaving nasty surprises for the caretakers yesterday.

This has been the second break-in the church has experienced in the last month.

According to Eugenie Payne, one of the church members, the thieves, who gained entry by removing part of the wall of the church and also ripping open grillwork, also drank four bottles of communion wine and nearly emptied the container with the communion wafers.

The thieves went on to defecate on the floor, cleaning themselves off with a cloth used in communion rites. The men also smoked cigarettes and left their ashes and cigarette butts on the floor scattered among the incense that the church uses during services.

The men left the premises taking with them a water cooler, an ice pitcher, a Diamond water bottle, two gallons of paint, a toilet bowl and all the coins in a collection bottle.